DELIVER US FROM FIREARMS

Keeley’s ideal America wouldn’t take that away, not completely, at least.

“As far as the other side of the (gun debate), I get it: people have a right to have a gun. People have an absolute right to have a gun. Because that’s what people have interpreted over time for our Constitution to say,” he said. But he would love to see a ban on military-style assault weapons for civilians, coupled with much stricter background checks for firearms purchases. “Heck, I’m 40 years old. I can’t go to the stadium without getting carded if I want a beer.”

In his view, people who cling to their weapons to prevent a government takedown are misguided. “Your assault weapon’s not going to do a whole lot to a Patriot missile. If the government wanted to take over, they’re gonna take over.” He would also love to see less “hypocrisy,” in the sense that some people, he said, favor freedom for rights of gun owners but restrictions on the rights of other groups.

Keeley has a Shepard Fairey poster that says “Make Art, Not War” in his living room and he’s a registered Democrat, but ideology aside, there are dimensions of him that line up with his more conservative neighbors. He grew up in rural East County (Descanso), and his father taught him how to shoot when he was growing up. He is the grandson of a World War II veteran, and he owns a gun. It’s a pistol made in 1910, which his great-grandfather bought when he came to the U.S. and moved to the wild Midwest. Keeley’s grandfather inherited it and destroyed the bullets.

“My grandpa was a World War II vet, and he didn’t want guns in the house,” Keeley explained, adding the pistol is now at his mother’s house. “I have young children.”

His voice was booming as he vented about the gun issue. A basketball toss away, a neighbor was outside, repairing a water leak in his front yard.

Was Keeley worried about broadcasting his views so loudly and having to mend fences later?

“They got their opinions, I got mine,” he said. “I work in a high school. I don’t go to high school.” That attitude reveals at least one thing everyone on Bundy Drive has in common: the ability to peacefully coexist, no matter how many guns you or your next door neighbors own — or don’t.